In the business of commemoration tensions are to be expected between the practices of the academy, the demands of the state and the expectations of individuals and groups on how each and every significant date is marked, or not marked.

Derryman Alec Foster was a great rugby player, a noted traditional singer and a highly regarded teacher, a left-wing republican and a founding member of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement. He was also connected to a troublesome ghost.

When the legal forms and procedures of the state prove impotent, sometimes there is no recourse but to denunciation, if justice is to be done. But as Veronica Guerin found out, such courageous action can be costly.